Most of the attention (and rightly so) is still aimed at the Bahamas after Category 5 Hurricane Dorian dealt a severe blow in the north. Officials with the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Aviation are trying to reinforce a different message: Most of the country’s islands are open to visitors, and those tourists are badly needed. When people say the Bahamas has been devastated, it gives the wrong impression,” says Ellison “Tommy” Thompson, deputy director general of the tourism ministry.
He acknowledged that Grand Bahama and the Abacos, two of the country’s northernmost areas, have suffered a terrible blow. Hotels and airports there were closed, and ports are only open for humanitarian purposes. Between January and July of this year, more than 4.5 million people went to the Bahamas by air and sea, Thompson said.
Of those, 415,124 visited Grand Bahama and 284,228 visited the Abacos. Those are the second- and third-most-visited destinations after Nassau and Paradise Island.
“It’s going to take years to get those islands back up, so we need the tourism revenue in order for us to sustain the reconstruction that’s going to be necessary,” Thompson says. “We definitely need the visitors to come.”
In other news – Jacob Zuma’s wife considers legal action after poison claims
Former president Jacob Zuma’s wife Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma is considering taking legal action against the police. The National Prosecuting Authority has decided not to prosecute anyone for the alleged poisoning of her husband.
The Acting Director of Public Prosecutions in KwaZulu-Natal, Elaine Zungu says the State Security Agency’s report contains no evidence Zuma was poisoned. Zungu also says that Zuma himself has not submitted an affidavit so he cannot be referred to as the complainant. Read more
Source: IOL
